Banks should explicitly show hidden charges!

India's banks- both private and PSU banks have a dozen different charges on various services they offer- but there is almost near zero clarity on these charges when you try to login to net banking and try to optimize your account usage to avoid additional charges.

These charges are extremely complicated to keep track of and there is no clear visibility as to what applies to your account, what is the current status and what can be done to avoid this charge.

Some of the popular charges applicable to India's savings bank account are

#1 Minimum Balance Penalty: Minimum balance varies by location (Urban, Semi Urban, Rural), account type (salary, regular saving account, Saving pro max etc). Some banks calculate min balance each day and get a quarterly average to decide if you're maintaining min balance or not, other banks may have different way of calculation.

There will be some exemption to minimum balance requirement as well- like salary accounts, accounts with higher TRV (because of demat holdings, FDs etc). 

This information is never shown in netbanking- How hard it is for banks to show basic info like

• Minimum balance applicable to your account is 15000 INR
• Current average minimum balance in your account is 14900 INR
• Maintain at least 600 INR extra for next 10 days for average to reach 15000 and avoid 500 INR minimum balance penalty.

If above info is clearly shown, customers can try to manage their funds better and avoid loosing hundreds of rupees in penalty. But banks don't want to show it- they are happy to suddenly debit money in the name of their hidden charges. No warning, no time to correct.

#2 Debit card charges:

Most banks charge an annual fee to debit card issuance, ranging from 299+ GST to 999+ GST

Most customers hardly need debit card these days

• Most payments are done via UPI, 
• ATM withdrawals can also be done without debit card by using app, 
• Credit card helps with online payments, international payments, offers etc

I've not used my debit card since ages. Only usage is at times during netbanking money transfer banks ask some data from debit card like grids etc 

#3 ATM usage charges:

Only few ATM withdrawals are free per month, beyond that banks are now charging a fee. Also count varies by own bank ATM vs other bank ATM. A clear clarity on this will help people avoid unnecessary ATM usage

#4 Credit card charges

 #4 SMS charges

Banks also charge for sending SMS. HDFC has an option to opt out, Axis bank I had to give an explicit letter asking me to disable SMS services for my account.

My experience

• Yes Bank didn't have any option to indicate that I don't want my debit card to be renewed- had to get it blocked prematurely to avoid paying renewal charges
• Most banks do not show minimum balance requirements
• No bank shows ATM usage count

Banks keep revising (I mean increasing) these charges from time to time. Banks don't give advance warning about these deductions, don't give easy option to opt out. Impossible to keep track of them and avoid unnecessary deductions from our bank accounts.Banks should clearly display like below in the dashboard

If there is an EMI due or SIP deduction due, banks send multiple alerts in advance. But for these hidden charges deductions, no alert, no warning, no easy option to opt out or avoid. Looks like a deliberate scam.

SBI alone collected over 415 Crore rupees in minimum balance penalty in 2025. Other banks and other charges included, Indian consumers would have lost thousands of crores of rupees every year, most of it could have been avoided if there's clear communication and ways to avoid it. 

Let me know what you think. RBI doesn't have a provision to file a generic complaint against all banks. I will have to file complaints individually against each bank. Have tagged them on twitter, but don't think they care to reply. Let us see.

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